After trekking the entire Camino de Santiago in 2013 (SJPDP to Finisterre), the Mapless Pilgrim returns to quasi-document 17 days trekking the final 300-miles...while continuing to embrace the maplessness of life.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

From Tracker to Trekker

About 5 months ago I called a
friend and mentioned that I was beginning to think about making a 600-mile
pilgrimage on foot. Without inquiry about what it was or why, he asked one
question: “Have you started a tracker?” I was sort of taken aback. ‘What do you
care if I made a tracker’, I thought. But I answered in the affirmative. “Welp,
that settles it. You’re going. So you had better tell me about it,” he laughed.

My friend knew
me well enough to know that if I was serious about doing this there would
already be a multi-tabbed spreadsheet tracking everything from my itinerary to
way-stops and the all-important packing list. And so it began.

I’ll be carrying everything I
need for 40 days on my back. There will be no porters or sherpas, no wheelie
bags and no shipping my bag ahead. I’m far from a pack rat but go ahead and try
piling up everything you use in the course of normal living over 40 days and
see if you’d be willing to schlep it 600 miles. Exactly. Necessity has taken on
a new definition.

And so the list has been
winnowed over and over. My fully-packed pack (without water) weighs in at just
under 22 pounds. The general rule of thumb is that the ideal weight is 10% of
your body weight. Translation: FAIL. I’m WAY over ideal, but I’ve done practice
hikes with more weight than this and I wear it comfortably. I’ll let the road
and experience tell me what I can pitch or give away to others; while some
items will become lighter along the way (shampoo/conditioner/and my supply of
ibuprofen for starters).

The kit basically includes 2
changes of clothes, rain gear, sleeping bag, medical supplies for everything
from blisters to the ability to kill God-knows-what with antibiotics. All of
that has made its way into my pack, while a limited supply of both sleep aid
and 5hr Energy is in a separate bag for the overnight flight and 24hr blitz of
Paris. More on how I plan to dominate the City of Lights soon…

Finally, as for the
monogrammed technical backpack, abundance of pink, and the Vineyard Vines bag
for the plane….be who you are, no matter where you are, right? #owningit